House Democrats are including in their first piece of legislation a clause that would require presidential nominees and their vice-presidential counterparts to reveal 10 years of tax returns to the public, CNN reports.
The bill, H.R. 1, includes a number of measures regarding voting regulations and ethics, according to the network. The portion requesting the tax returns of presidential nominees is meant to provide transparency into the nominee’s financial past—an endeavor that’s troubled Democrats since President Donald Trump’s inauguration three years ago.
The request for a decade of tax returns is an increase from initial reports that Democrats would only seek three years. According to CNN, the reports would be posted to the Federal Election Commission’s website for the public to view.
The bill is not expected to pass the Republican-controlled Senate, but will set the Democratic priorities for this year’s Congress. House Democrats are reportedly exploring alternative methods of obtaining Trump’s tax returns: the incoming chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, Massachusetts Rep. Richard Neal, may have legal power to request the president’s tax returns.
Trump has long argued that he has nothing to hide, but doesn’t want to disclose his tax returns because they are under audit by the Internal Revenue Service.
A bombshell report from the New York Times, however, alleged that Trump engaged in “dubious tax schemes” and “outright fraud” prior to his presidential run. The report, published in October, caught the attention of the New York State Tax Department and only increased the public’s curiosity about the president’s tax returns.
